Cassettes….why ?

[square_wave]

I had couple of questions for people who are into cassettes these days.
Many years ago I was an avid user of cassettes and cassette decks. Owned a nak, technics and even a sony 3 head deck. From a sound quality context, cassettes were relevant only in the below situations.

1. Some music was mastered better on vinyl than other mediums. Since you never had a vinyl player / vinyl you made a copy of the album on a good quality tape from vinyl at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. These tape copies actually sounded better than the cd version especially in the early days of cd / cd players.
2. Once upon a time, CDs and CD players were expensive. Since you owned a tape deck, you made copies of those on your tape deck at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. This problem went away when cd player prices came down and you could easily make copies of cds on a PC.

I am curious. Apart from the nostalgia and the above, is there any other reason for cassette tape love ?

How relevant are cassette tapes ? Are there people who make copies of cds to tapes and then listen ? Isn’t it better to introduce filters in a pc playback system that gives you that “ tape “ sound ?

Please note that I completely understand nostalgia and people’s need to go back in time etc. I am more curious to understand their relevance purely from a sound quality context.

 

[Ashenden]

I used cassettes in 80-90s mainly because couldn’t afford to buy Vinyl or CD. Switched to CDs when income improved and never looked back. For nostalgia I’ve kept them in storage, but don’t play them.

 

[Hassan Khani]

There are some OST especially Tamil & Malayalam sounds best in cassettes. For example Ilaiyaraaja musical ANJALI is best sounding in cassettes. LP (Echo) is not great and CD (Oriental) even worse. Also there are many titles came only in CD & Cassettes and cassettes being superior in playback. Most of the Tharangini, Raja, Eknath, Echo, AVM sounds too goo in cassettes.

 

[jmascreen]

I just dont know what magic the tapes are giving. For me the old Tharangini cassettes or other english albums sounded the best with tapes

 

[Ashenden]

Most of my cassettes used to warp and disintegrate very fast. I don’t know if it was due to the fact I was staying close to beaches all the time during that period (Goa, Lakshawdeep, Mangalore etc)

 

[Music Freak]

Please note that I completely understand nostalgia and people’s need to go back in time etc. I am more curious to understand their relevance purely from a sound quality context.

Hi!

I get your curiosity. You've rightly listed the usual factors that lead us to the Cassettes. Apart from that, there are a couple of cool things.

If you find your favorite digital music bright/harsh to your ears, then, you can record the same the way you prefer on a "quality" tape using a top quality tape deck having advance NR features., like S & C.

Also, if you ever run out of/end the subscription to your fav streaming sites, the recorded Cassettes come in handy! rather than just listening to low format MP3s/AACs.

Finding cool music & being happy with it, in any form, is just a great feeling. If not, we got to switch between the mediums/tweak our approach a bit to be happy, be it, goin back to Cassettes/Vinyls/Reels.

 

[Vinay2013]

I am not using cassettes any more but somehow I feel that Jagjit Singh and AR Rahman albums sounded better in cassettes than CD. I did not have Vinyl record that time.

 

[square_wave]

Hi!

I get your curiosity. You've rightly listed the usual factors that lead us to the Cassettes. Apart from that, there are a couple of cool things.

If you find your favorite digital music bright/harsh to your ears, then, you can record the same the way you prefer on a "quality" tape using a top quality tape deck having advance NR features., like S & C.

Also, if you ever run out of/end the subscription to your fav streaming sites, the recorded Cassettes come in handy! rather than just listening to low format MP3s/AACs.

Finding cool music & being happy with it, in any form, is just a great feeling. If not, we got to switch between the mediums/tweak our approach a bit to be happy, be it, goin back to Cassettes/Vinyls/Reels.

Ok. if you find your digital harsh, why not just use the many advanced equalization tools available in the digital domain these days ? They do a much better job.

I get the thing about Reels and Vinyl. They are both relevant because they both deliver some experiences that are exclusive only to those formats.

Hassan said that some releases sound better on cassettes than cd or vinyl. Wow ! How many such cases are there? That is news !

 

[Music Freak]

Ok. if you find your digital harsh, why not just use the many advanced equalization tools available in the digital domain these days ? They do a much better job.

That's another option. No harm in trying too.
I have got a nice equalizer with a cool graphic spectrum analyzer as part of my audio set up itself. However, I hardly use that.

We usually tend to fiddle around with the frequencies way too often "per track" & that kills the desire/listening pleasure.

Recording on a tape deck is a one time affair. Record once, forget the rest, enjoy your music.

 

[square_wave]

That's another option. No harm in trying too.
I have got a nice equalizer with a cool graphic spectrum analyzer as part of my audio set up itself. However, I hardly use that.

We usually tend to keep fiddling around with the frequencies way too often "per track" & that kills the desire/listening pleasure.

Recording on a tape deck is a one time affair. Record once, forget the rest, enjoy your music.

Just curious. So, if you don't like the sound of a cd, you record it onto a tape and the problems disappear ? It could be that tapes does not have the bandwidth needed to accommodate all of the " digital nastiness " Blessing in disguise !

 

[Music Freak]

Just curious. So, if you don't like the sound of a cd, you record it onto a tape and the problems disappear ?

I said "record the way YOU want it to sound like" ☺
There won't be a question of you disliking it unless your taste changes.

 

[Ashenden]

old Tharangini cassettes

I bought some CDs from Tharangini from OST of 80s movies, Swathi Thirunal, His highness abdulla, Rajashilpi etc. They were surprisingly well mastered. I was expecting a harsh sounding recording.

 

[Hassan Khani]

I bought some CDs from Tharangini from OST of 80s movies, Swathi Thirunal, His highness abdulla, Rajashilpi etc. They were surprisingly well mastered. I was expecting a harsh sounding recording.

Tharangini Rs.75/- CDs are good quality transfer from original master. So are most of the Crescendo editions like Yathra. The only problem with Tharangini CDs they have used cheap CDs (flimsy ones) to punch and hence many doesn't play properly.

Attached are few titles released in Tharangini which are still available in some shops and one can buy to listen.

 

[jmascreen]

I bought some CDs from Tharangini from OST of 80s movies, Swathi Thirunal, His highness abdulla, Rajashilpi etc. They were surprisingly well mastered. I was expecting a harsh sounding recording.

For me the cassettes sounded the best, could be my cd player not at par with my nak deck

 

[jmascreen]

Tharangini Rs.75/- CDs are good quality transfer from original master. So are most of the Crescendo editions like Yathra. The only problem with Tharangini CDs they have used cheap CDs (flimsy ones) to punch and hence many doesn't play properly.

Attached are few titles released in Tharangini which are still available in some shops and one can buy to listen.

Any online site to buy this?

 

[Ashenden]

Tharangini Rs.75/- CDs are good quality transfer from original master. So are most of the Crescendo editions like Yathra. The only problem with Tharangini CDs they have used cheap CDs (flimsy ones) to punch and hence many doesn't play properly.

Attached are few titles released in Tharangini which are still available in some shops and one can buy to listen.

Yes. I used to rip them to hard disk immediately on buying. You never know when it’ll stop playing

 

[Hassan Khani]

Any online site to buy this?

Not sure online but you can with VITA in cochin. Their contact details @ https://www.quickerala.com/ernakulam/cochin/vita-entertainment/23409

 

[Hassan Khani]

Also most of the ARR Pyramid / Magnasound audio cassettes sounds too good. Karuthamma, Duet, Kazhakku Cheemayile, Pudhiya Mugam, Thiruda Thiruda etc. Duet cassette have all tracks including bit songs. Pyramid CDs does not have all songs. Only ramiy Duet CD has all songs but it feels like a transfer from tape.

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

I had couple of questions for people who are into cassettes these days.
Many years ago I was an avid user of cassettes and cassette decks. Owned a nak, technics and even a sony 3 head deck. From a sound quality context, cassettes were relevant only in the below situations.

1. Some music was mastered better on vinyl than other mediums. Since you never had a vinyl player / vinyl you made a copy of the album on a good quality tape from vinyl at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. These tape copies actually sounded better than the cd version especially in the early days of cd / cd players.
2. Once upon a time, CDs and CD players were expensive. Since you owned a tape deck, you made copies of those on your tape deck at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. This problem went away when cd player prices came down and you could easily make copies of cds on a PC.

I am curious. Apart from the nostalgia and the above, is there any other reason for cassette tape love ?

How relevant are cassette tapes ? Are there people who make copies of cds to tapes and then listen ? Isn’t it better to introduce filters in a pc playback system that gives you that “ tape “ sound ?

Please note that I completely understand nostalgia and people’s need to go back in time etc. I am more curious to understand their relevance purely from a sound quality context.

I had couple of questions for people who are into cassettes these days.
Many years ago I was an avid user of cassettes and cassette decks. Owned a nak, technics and even a sony 3 head deck. From a sound quality context, cassettes were relevant only in the below situations.

1. Some music was mastered better on vinyl than other mediums. Since you never had a vinyl player / vinyl you made a copy of the album on a good quality tape from vinyl at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. These tape copies actually sounded better than the cd version especially in the early days of cd / cd players.
2. Once upon a time, CDs and CD players were expensive. Since you owned a tape deck, you made copies of those on your tape deck at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. This problem went away when cd player prices came down and you could easily make copies of cds on a PC.

I am curious. Apart from the nostalgia and the above, is there any other reason for cassette tape love ?

How relevant are cassette tapes ? Are there people who make copies of cds to tapes and then listen ? Isn’t it better to introduce filters in a pc playback system that gives you that “ tape “ sound ?

Please note that I completely understand nostalgia and people’s need to go back in time etc. I am more curious to understand their relevance purely from a sound quality context.

Hi
Square_ wave
Before coming into the vinyl world I used to buy cassettes or even had those recorded because I couldn't have the fund to go for vinyls. Besides this our HMV fiesta stopped working. So I wanted cassettes those days having no other alternative.Later when CDs came into being,i began to buy audio CDs and Mp3s. IMHO Cassettes have no value other than nostalgic or emotional values. If anyone has recorded some personal matters in cassettes then it should have an immense value.Otherwise one who likes the sq he will go with vinyls or for convenience one has so many options these days. Again listening to music is entirely a personal matter.so people have the right and choice to go with either vinyls, cassettes or whatever he finds convenient and pocket friendly.It seems to me that you have nicely described your view
Regards
Bhaskar

 

[skroderider]

I had couple of questions for people who are into cassettes these days.
Many years ago I was an avid user of cassettes and cassette decks. Owned a nak, technics and even a sony 3 head deck. From a sound quality context, cassettes were relevant only in the below situations.

1. Some music was mastered better on vinyl than other mediums. Since you never had a vinyl player / vinyl you made a copy of the album on a good quality tape from vinyl at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. These tape copies actually sounded better than the cd version especially in the early days of cd / cd players.
2. Once upon a time, CDs and CD players were expensive. Since you owned a tape deck, you made copies of those on your tape deck at some friend’s home or places that offered that service. This problem went away when cd player prices came down and you could easily make copies of cds on a PC.

I am curious. Apart from the nostalgia and the above, is there any other reason for cassette tape love ?

How relevant are cassette tapes ? Are there people who make copies of cds to tapes and then listen ? Isn’t it better to introduce filters in a pc playback system that gives you that “ tape “ sound ?

Please note that I completely understand nostalgia and people’s need to go back in time etc. I am more curious to understand their relevance purely from a sound quality context.

There is another aspect apart from quality and nostalgia, which is availability.

1. There is music, especially non-mainstream, and regional/folk music that does not have a wide audience, that is available only on cassettes. E.g. Assamese folk/film music from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
2. When you do find CDs or streaming for such music, they are of such bad quality that you feel like screaming. Sometimes better quality CDs did come out when the album was released (and the cassette too) but they are not available anymore. So you are stuck with the cassette. Examples - Bombay , 1942 A Love Story, Maya Memsaab - to take a few Bollywood examples. My cassettes sound fantastic even now for these albums.